Tractor



Dec. 10, 1929. J. H. MCCOLLOUGH 3 Sheets-Sheet TRACTOR Filed Aug. 16,

P n r lw Dec. 10, 1929. JQH. MCCOLLOUGH TRACTOR 3 Sheets-Sheet Filed Aug. 16,- 1927 v Q mmn m N mmnwi INV ENTOR w v ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 10,1 29

This invention relates particularly -to the track laying type of tractor wherein the desired traction is secured through the medium of a single track, and more particularly to a tractor consisting of a forward pulling unit and a rear balancing unit, the forward pulling unit being steered and controlled by the operator on the rear balancing unit. l

In the application of mechanical power to of said rows.

farm work certain limitations have become In farm work it is desirable to have the tractor and the implement operated by one man: In the cultivation of many crops it is essential that the operator be pornacron Application filed August 16, 1927. Serial a... 213,341.

I UNITED STATES PATENT oFFia JAMES H HCCOLLOUGH, OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA It is still another ob 'ect of the invention to provide a tractor o the character indicated that will provide the required traction and power for pulling a vehicle or earth working implement and yet be sufliciently small, compact and flexible to be readily o erated between the rows of plants in t e field and turned in a small space at the .ends

It is also an object of the invention to pro.- vide a tractor of the character indicated so balanced as to be easily supported against lateral inclination to its normal vertical plane, and so balanced as to prevent the raissitioned on the implement. It is also esing of the front-end of the ulling unit from sential that the tractor be narrow enou h and compact enough to be operated in t e space between the rows of growing crops, and yet be powerful enough and efficient enough to pull the heavy implements designed for use with two or more animals. It is also essential to economical use on the farm that the tractor be readily attached to and detached from the various farm implements.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspecti the ground when pulling a eavy load.

It is also an ob ect of the invention to provide a tractor of the typeindicated provided with a steering mechanism so constructed as to cause the pulling unit to incline inwardly when turning in the arc of a circle, thereby rendering the same more stable.

ve illustration of a Many attempts have been made in the past tractor embodying my invention, minor deto provide machines which will do this work tails being omitted. satisfactorily but without success. It is the object of this invention to provide a machine which will work efiicicntly on any kind of soil condition; which will-subject the land to only a few pounds-pressure per square inch as it passes over it; which Wlll have no ure 3. limitation upon its being able to turn with its load in short spaces; which can be easily and accurately driven; and which will hook broken away. to any kind of useful farm implement in such fashion that the combination of tractor and ure 5. tool is a workable one-man outfit.

It is another object of the invention to provide a tractor of the character indicated comsheave thereon. prising separable pulling and balancing units wherein the pulling unit comprises a single track and driving means therefor with suitable controls, and a rear balancing unit carrying the drivers seat and detachably connected to the pulling'unit in such a manner as to position the said controls in proper relation to the drivers seat, the balancing unit being a vehicle or any one of the several different types of earth working implements.

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevation of a portion of the tractor.

Figure 3 is a rear elevation of a portion of the steering head and fork.

Figure 4 is a sectional view on 44 of Fig- Figure 5 is a sectional view on line 5-5 of Figure 2, partly 1n elevation and part Figure 7 is a detail elevation of the lower end of one .of the steering forks and the Figure 8 is a detail of a portion of the clutch operating mechanism.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, I show at 1-1 the two side members of a frame rigidly supported and connected by cross bar 2 and a trunnion 3, the said trun- 'nion being positioned between the upstanding forward portions of the members. One member has an. annular opening 4 formed therein in axial alignment with the cylinder Figure 6 is a detail section on 6-6 of Fig-' or trunnion 3 and the other member has an annular opening 5 of less diameter than opening 4 with opening 4. A roller is shown at 6 mounted on the frame intermediate its ends as showni In the rear end of each member 1 is formed a vertical slot as 7, and slidably mounted in each slot is a shoe 8 adjusted by g means of a screw 9 engaging its forwarchside and operatively mounted in a boss 10 mounted on the member 1.

'Revolubly mounted in the shoes 8 is a sprocket shaft 11, this shaft being hollow as shown, and revolubl mounted on the shaft 11 is a sprocket 12. ixedly mounted upon one of the shoes 8 and concentrically arranged relative to the shaft 11 is a cap 13 having its edge engaging a. groove 14 in the adja track is cent side of sprocket 12 whereby to form a closed'chamber for certain working parts hereinafter described. In the forward portionof this ea is revolubly mounted one end of'a shaft 15 tted with a universal joint 16. The shaft 15 carries a pinion 17 meshing with a gear 18 on the side of sprocket 12. The result of this construction is that the sprocket may be accurately adjusted by means of the adjustable shoes 8, and the sprocket I may be rotated on the shaft by means of the driving shaft 15. a

J ournaled upon the trunnion 3 between the side members 1-1 of the frame is an idler wheel 17, and mounted upon the idler 17 and sprocket 12 is a track 18. The tension of the adjusted by adjustment of the sprocket 12, the same being driven by said sprocket, the idler being driven through frictional engagement between it and the said track so that when power is applied to rotate the driving shaft 15 the track is laid and the tractor moved over it.

The power is derived from a suitable power plant such as an internal combustion engine 19 mounted upon one side of the frame 1 so that its crank shaft is axially aligned with the trunnion 3, and secured by bolts as 20. The shaft 21 carries a fly-wheel 22 positioned within the trunnion 3.

The transmission of power from the crankshaft 21 to the shaft 15 is effected in the fol- 'lowingmanner. A housing23 is mounted upon the side of frame 1 opposite to the engine 19, and a drive shaft 24 is revolubly mounted in the housing and upon one end of the crank-shaft 21 and in alignment with the shaft 21. This shaft carries a pinion 25 meshing with a gear 26 which is in turn mounted upon a stub-shaft 27 revolubly mounted in the housing 23 and carrying a bevel gear 28. Meshing with the bevel gear 28 is a gear 29 mounted on the shaft 15 hereinbefore described. The result of this construction is that when the normally inoperative drive shaft 24 is caused to rotate the power is transmit ted directlyto sprocket 12.

sitioned is operated as by .The driving connection between the shafts 21 and 24 is effected in the following manformed therein in axial alignment ner. Keyed to the shaft 24 is a slidable sleeve 'for moving the sleeve in the opposite direction and bringing the discs into driving engement when permitted by the mechanism indicated at 34.

For reversing the direction of rotation of the shaft 24 the following mechanism is provided. On the sleeve 30 is keyed a gear 35, and adjacent the gear 35 is revolubly mounted a second gear 36. On the gear 36 is mounted a brake drum. 37 controlled by a band 38 and a suitable operating mechanism 39. vT he numerals 4041 indicate integrally formed pinions meshing with the gears 35 and 36 respectively and mounted on a stub-shaft 42 on the flange 32. When the clutch 3133 is disengaged the larger pinion. 40 travels around the gear 35 while the smaller pinion 41 causes the drum 37 to rotate. Upon applying the brake band 38 the pinion 41 is caused to rotate relative to gear 36 thereby causing pinion 40 to rotate the gear 35 and shaft 24 backwardly.

Since these drivingconnections are controlled by a single cable some operating nection must be made between the two. This is secured by mounting a-cam 39 on the brake control, and an arm 34 on the mechanism '34 operating sleeve 30. The cam is so p0- that when the braking mechanism pulling a cable 56 the arm 34" is first operated to move sleeve 30 and break contact between the driving discs. Further movement of the braking mechanism draws the band down upon the brake drum with the result above set forth. \Vh'en the cable 56 is released a spring 56 returns the mechanism 39 to a normal position.

The water cooling system for the engine is indicated generallv by the numeral 43,

' the fuel tank being indicated in part at 44 and wardly from the upper end of the fork is a pivot-pin 48, this pin being rearwardly inclined as shown, in the present case about ten degrees from the vertical. This pin has a passage formed longitudinally therethrough as at 49 and has a gear mounted on its upper end as at 50. A housin 51 is shown'enolosing thefgear and revolu I mounted on the pin at 52. In the housing is mounted'a steering shaft 53 carrying a inion 54 meshing with the gear 50. Slidab y mounted in, the

56 or driven backwardly by operating the" cable in the opposite direction, and the operation of the engine itself may be controlled by means of the cable 57.

It will be noted that this pulling unit is complete in so far as the power, driving and controlling mechanism is concerned, but it is not inherently stable and in practical use must be provided with a'balancing unit. For this I contemplate using any form or type of vehicle .or earth working implement having spaced supporting elements, and provided with a suitable connecting means and, preferably, a" seat for the operator. For the purpose of illustration I have shown a vehicle 66 with spa'ced wheels 67 and fitted with a seat 68 and tapered drawbars 69 fitting into tapered sockets 70 in housing 51 where they "are held securely in place by any suitable fastening means as 71. By providing the various implements with identical connections to the housing 51 they become readily interchangeable. Since implements of various types vary greatly in size their seats will be variably spaced from the pulling unit when they are attached thereto. In order to place the steering wheel and'control in proper relation to the seat in each case, the steering wheel support, the steering rod, and the carbureter control rod and clutch control rod, are each telescoped as indicated at 72, 73, 74 and 75.. As above described the idler wheel is posi- 'tioned forwardly of the drive wheel and isconsiderably larger than the drive wheel. The power plant with the greater portion of the transmission mechanism, the water and the gasoline tanks are mounted on the frame about the axis of the idler wheel thereby making an exceptionally compact construction possible and placing the great bulk of the weight at the front end of the tractor where it is useful in holding the track flat upon the ground when pulling a heavy load;

When the tractor is in usethere' will, of

- course, be a limited relative rocking movement between the track carrying portion of the pulling unit and the fork 47 and parts carried thereby. To prevent this rocking masks; a, I

movement from operating the cables 56 and I 57 I mount the ulleys Gland 65 eccentrically specific; [embodiment of the invention, changes inform, construction and method of assembly and operation may be made within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim -to the axis of t e rock shaft 46 as shown at 76"and77 respectively. I l

It 'is to be understood, of course, that while, I have herein shown and described but'one 1. A' tractor including an inherently un stable pulling unit comprising a driving wheel, an idler wheel of greater diameterthan the driving wheel, a connecting frame supporing the wheels in a common plane, a track mounted on the wheels, a power plant mounted on the frame about the axis of theidler .wheel, transmission means inserted between the power lant and the drivin'g'wheel, steering means or the unit, and means for connecting a stabilizing means to the unit.

2. In a tractor, a pulling unit comprising a frame, a. rear drive wheel mounted thereon, an idler wheel mounted thereon forwardly of the drive .wheel and in the plane of the drive wheel, an endless track mounted on said Wheels, a power plant mounted on-the frame about the axis of the idler wheel, and

power transmission mechanism connecting the power plant and drive wheel.

. 3. In a tractor, a pulling unit comprising a frame, a rear drive wheelmou'nted thereon, an idler wheel mounte thereon forwardly of the drive wheel and i the plane thereof, an endless track mounted on said wheels,a

power plant mounted on the frame about the axis of the idler wheel and on one side thereof, and power transmission mechanism extending through the. idler wheel and thence to the drive wheel.

4. In a. tractor, a pulling unit comprising a frame, a rear drive wheel mounted thereon,

an idler wheel mounted t-hereon forwardly of the vdrive wheel and in the plane thereof, an endless track mounted on said wheels, a power plant mounted on the frame about the axis of the idler wheel, and on one side thereof,

and provided with a flywheel positioned within the idler wheel in axial relation thereto and in the lane thereof, and power transmission mec anism mounted upon the other side of the idler wheel and operatively connected to the flywheel and the rear drive wheel.

5. A tractor including a pulling unit comprising a frame, a rear drive wheel mounted thereon, an idler wheel mounted thereon forwardly of the drive wheel and in the plane thereof, an endless track mounted on said wheels, a power plant mounted on the frame about the axis of the idler wheel, and power transmission-mechanism connecting the pow- .er plant and drive wheel, an upstanding and rearwardly inclined steering column mounted on the frame adjacent the drive wheel, a head rear drive wheel mounted thereon,

wheel mounted thereon forwardly of the r drive wheel and in the plane thereof, an endhead.

pivotally mounted on the column, stee means mounted in the head and conn to the column and extending rearwardly therefrom, and a balancing unit can to said head.

6. A tractor including an inherently unstable pulling unit comprising a frame, a. an idle less track mounted on said wheels, 21- power plant mounted on the frame about the axis of the idler wheel, power transmission mech i anism connecting the power plant and drive wheel, and steering mechanism mounted on the frame adjacent the drive wheel, and a balancing unit connected to the steering mechamsm.

,7. The combination with a power oper-'.

ated track laying pulling unit of the character described, including a driving wheel for the track, of a rock-shaft axially mounted in the drive wheel, a forked steering column mounted on the rock-shaft and having an upstanding rearwardly inclined hollow shaft on its upper end, a steering head revolubly mounted on the head, controls for the working mechanism of the pulling unit mounted on the head, ulleys mounted in said head and on said co umn, and independently movable cables connected to said controls and engaging said pulleys, and passing from the controls downwardly through said hollow shaft,-thence outwardly to the sides of the steering column, thence downwardly and through the axis of the rock-shaft, and thence forwardly to the working mechanism of the pulling unit.

- 8. The combination withfa power operated track laying pulling unit of the char acter described, including a drive wheel for the track, of a rock-shaft axially mounted in the drive wheel, a steering column mounted on the rock-shaft, a steering head revolubly mounted on the column, and control means for the operating mechanismof the pulling unit mounted on the steering column and 4 JAMES H. Mccon oUGH 

